It started as a recon mission.
At least, that's what they were told.
Strange cursed energy readings had been popping up around an abandoned chemical plant on the outskirts of town. Low risk, low profile. Routine sweep. Yuji and Nobara were sent in with a small support team. Megumi stayed back to monitor and coordinate if anything went sideways.
And of course, everything went sideways.
The moment Yuji crossed the main threshold, the cursed signature exploded. Something inside the plant reacted—like it had been dormant and waiting for prey. Two signatures emerged that dwarfed what had been detected earlier. Riku felt them even before the emergency signal flared. They were strong. Rotten. Familiar.
Eso and Kechizu—two of the Death Painting Wombs.
Special grade. Both of them.
No hesitation. No delay. Riku moved.
By the time Megumi yanked Yuji out and Nobara was getting pulled from the battlefield, Riku was already there—boots crunching through broken tiles and rotted debris.
The air stank of bile and old iron. The walls were slick with some blackened, cursed residue. A few auxiliary sorcerers lay motionless against the far wall, unconscious but alive.
Eso turned, his cracked armor of rotting skin glistening under the faint industrial lights. His eyes narrowed.
"You're not Itadori."
Riku rolled his shoulders slowly and cracked his neck.
"Nope. Upgraded substitute."
The wind stirred around him. His cursed energy surged—controlled and heavy. Dark blue-black tendrils of it swirled around his arms, laced silently with invisible Armament Haki. Kechizu hissed, his hunched form twitching with excitement, green bile dribbling from his gaping mouth.
"This one feels different, brother."
Eso's smile was slow, calculated. "Then we'll dissect him properly."
Riku's eyes sharpened.
'Something's odd…'
He watched them, his senses tuned with sharp instinct. His gut tensed.
'They're stronger than their canon selves. I can sense it… Eso, Kechizu… even Gojo, Sukuna, the Finger Bearer… everyone's power feels a notch higher. Is this… an alternate universe? That could be the explanation—but for now, it's all I have to go on.'
Kechizu launched first.
Riku side-stepped without effort, sliding on the balls of his feet and slamming a clean elbow into the creature's chin before spinning into a backhand that sent him flying into a wall.
Eso came next, releasing a cursed blood attack mid-air, the liquid splattering like acidic ink across the field.
Riku narrowed his eyes and Flash Stepped behind him, dropping a hammering punch to the back of his shoulder. Eso tanked it, landing with a skid.
"You're strong."
"Yeah," Riku said calmly, eyes still calculating. "I've been told."
Kechizu returned to the fray, mouth wide, spewing a burst of blood meant to rot anything it touched.
Riku jumped over it, flipped, and landed with a crash that cratered the floor. The ground beneath his feet cracked from the force, his wristbands weighing him down but enhancing his core control.
Then Eso released it—a wide-area cursed blood mist meant to corrode everything.
Riku's eyes widened slightly as the crimson fog expanded. He moved, fast, but caught a few drops across his shoulder and chest. His cursed energy shielded most of it, but it still stung. Pain licked across his ribs.
He gritted his teeth.
'If I stay reactive, this will get annoying.'
He closed his eyes, tuned out the rot, the noise, the chaos.
Silence.
And then—
[System Notification: Host has unlocked a skill on their own. Observation Haki has been unlocked.]
His eyes snapped open.
The world around him shifted.
It wasn't physical—it was perception.
He could feel it: their intentions, the flow of the fight, the angles of incoming attacks.
Kechizu roared and lunged.
Riku leaned to the left half a second before the attack came. Dodged.
Eso whipped blood like blades through the air.
Riku stepped between them. Weaved. Slid. Barely moving—but untouched.
He blinked.
'So this is Observation Haki…'
A grin crept across his face.
Kechizu lunged again.
Riku caught his face mid-air with a brutal right hook, amplified by cursed energy and raw precision. The impact cracked the air.
He didn't stop.
He Flash Stepped behind Kechizu before the body hit the floor and sent him flying with a knee to the back.
Eso moved to intercept, but Riku was already in front of him.
"Tag, you're it," Riku muttered—and sent Eso flying with an uppercut straight to the jaw, spinning the Death Painting in midair before he crashed into a crumbling pipe system.
The battlefield was still again. Blood hissed and steamed across the ruined floor.
Kechizu groaned as he stood, limping, part of his jaw hanging off. Eso gritted his teeth, part of his body now blackened and cracked.
"You're not normal," Eso growled.
"No shit."
"Are you one of the special-grade sorcerers?"
Riku tilted his head.
"I'm Riku Yamadera."
He stepped forward, slowly. The shadows danced behind him.
"And I'm the one who ends this."
The two Death Paintings charged together, screaming in tandem.
Riku clenched both fists, cursed energy and Haki swirling around his limbs like coiled serpents.
He vanished—then reappeared between the brothers.
One punch.
His fist slammed into Kechizu's gut, so hard it dented his torso inward. The curse flew back, bouncing off the ground like a skipping stone, black sludge pouring from his mouth.
Before Eso could blink, Riku turned and launched a spinning axe kick straight into the back of his head. Eso dropped, face-first into the concrete, gasping.
"You two are pathetic," Riku said. "Tragic little bloodbags with no aim."
Kechizu struggled to crawl. "Our brother… will avenge…"
Riku walked toward him, slowly, gaze cold.
"This isn't personal."
He raised his fist. A single punch shattered Kechizu's head like glass. The body burst into cursed smoke, vanishing.
Eso lay broken, muttering something under his breath.
Riku stepped over him, eyes sharp. "Any last words?"
Eso coughed blood. "We… we are cursed… because humans—"
"—don't care," Riku finished. "Maybe next life, try not being psychopaths."
One final kick. Clean. Precise.
Eso disappeared into cursed ash.
The battlefield went still.
Riku looked around at the ruins.
"Two down," he muttered. "One more freak to go."
He walked off without looking back.
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Okay first of all what the fuck guys. Why do soooo many people want Akari to die and keep saying she is going to die like is he not allowed to be happy? Anyways as always if you have any ideas let me know also I think I might take a small break.